In an email, an Adobe spokesperson said that "since the launch of CS4 in September last year, the global economy has entered a state of unprecedented turmoil and one of the side effects of this has been sharp fluctuations between GBP/EUR exchange rates. This has resulted in significant differences in price between products in the two markets."

The company says that it seeks to price consistently across Europe and that the this change to the CS4 pricing is intended to realign the UK with other European countries. To achieve this, it will be reducing some European prices by up to 13 per cent.

The raise means that the price of the Design Premium CS4 will increase from £1,249 to £1,372. Both prices exclude VAT.